I know Jon recently left The Chariot but we caught up with him and wanted to share this video.
Jonathan Kindler of The Chariot
Temptations on the Road
Jonathan Kindler: Sexual temptation or temptation in general on the road seems to be intensified compared to when I’m at home because you don’t have the accountability and there’s a lot…just being in a band there’s a lot of opportunities for things to happen. People who are hurting are coming to you wanting you to hurt or join them in that. I guess I’ve come to see that as people just hurting and trying to fill a void.I think it’s definitely more intense on the road and people think that because you’re a band guy that that’s an activity that you take part in. They want to do stuff with you just because you’re in a band. It’s a little bit more intense.
Thoughts on Pornography
JK: For me, I don’t look at porn and haven’t in a long time. It’s always been a weird thing for me. When I was younger, like a teenager, you obviously have friends who watch that kind of stuff and joke about that kind of stuff. I guess in the last three or four years, especially being in the band I just feel like the Lord has called me to be completely separated from that stuff so I have separated myself from it. I guess I’ve gotten to the point where you see it and it’s sad and I see it as people hurting and people trying to find their place somewhere. It’d be hard for me to even watch something like that because I see it from this person’s perspective, it’s hard to see this person doing something like that and looking at them as just a physical thing rather than being a human being.
Accountability
JK: Accountability is a huge part of it, not just for sexual temptation but for every part of your life. Being out on the road, it’s a lot harder to be kept accountable, other than by the guys in your band I think you need to have people back home keeping you accountable because you’re removed from what you’re doing. Its a huge deal because when you’re out on the road doing your own thing, its easy to get caught up in personal sin, keeping a secret, especially being a believer and people expecting you to be a believer you’re kind of expected to be this Christian person so whether you are that or not you still want to be that, you still represent that, you are that to the outside world. It kind of creates this secret life. I try to be very intentional about pursuing relationships that are going to cause me to be accountable to my actions and people asking me the hard questions that I need to be asked and calling me out when I’m doing things that aren’t legit. So accountability is the biggest part of keeping a steady relationship with the lord and keeping away from things that are going to drag you into your temptation, whether that’s sexual temptation or, the list goes on as far as being on the road.
Effects
JK: Being on the road and seeing a lot of guys in bands, people participating in pornography and just having sex with a lot of people I think those things play off each other. If you watch a lot of pornography you view the opposite sex as kind of this means to and end I guess. So seeing a lot of band guys have that opportunity to do a lot of that stuff…its really sad.One time we shared this bus with another band, we were actually in Europe and just saw girls coming onto the bus and staying for the night and leaving with the band guys and just seeing the effect it had on the guy and how detrimental it was to the girl even though they fully put themselves in that situation, to be used and to use somebody. The bible talks about our body being a temple and what that really means, whether you’re a believer or not, realizing how important it is to protect yourself and protect your heart and view people the way that God views people. I think sexual sin is one of the most dangerous things. in our society its viewed as something that’s okay, guys are expected to look at porn and guys are expected to masturbate and I think its just really dangerous especially as a believer to allow yourself to be vulnerable to that stuff or think that’s just the way we are. Like “I don’t fool around with girls so I just masturbate instead”, I think that’s just an opportunity for Satan to have a foothold. I personally don’t masturbate and I haven’t for years. It’s such a blessing because now the Lord has changed my heart on the way I see females. It’s so much easier for me to look at them as a sister in Christ rather than “She’s really sexy, I’d love to…” you know? I don’t get to watch TV much so I’m kind of like separated from a lot of stuff but as soon as I watch a TV show that has some sort of sexual interaction, you see that and its kind of like “That’s not a big deal, I didn’t see anything” but as soon as I see something like that you start looking at girls in that way, its just like this trigger in our mind. We were created to be that way but there’s a time and place for it so I think it’s important for us to really separate ourselves, protect ourselves and each other and keep each other accountable.